21 -25 March 2009 |
Thatched cottage severely damaged by fire
A thatched cottage at Sidings Lane, White Ladies Aston, near Pershore was severely damaged after fire spread through the roof on Saturday March 21st. Six appliances together with the aerial ladder platform were in attendance. The Urban Search and Rescue team used equipment to shore up the property. Crews were in attendance at the incident for 18 hours. The fire is believed to have started as a result of an electrical fault in an outside light fitting. No one was injured or required rescue from the cottage.
Sun Valley Poultry factory alert
Three Hereford crews were sent to a reported fire at Sun Valley Poultry, Grandstand Road, Hereford shortly after midnight on Sunday March 22nd. There was no sign of fire. the alarm system had been activated by fumes from heating oil entering the detector head.
Acme Thunderer whistle blown to evacuate BA crews from house fire
Crews were evacuated from tackling a fire at three terraced houses when the incident commander sounded his whistle before the roof of one of the affected homes in Lion Fields Road, Cookley, near Kidderminster collapsed into the first floor. Crews from Kidderminster, Stourport, Bewdley and Worcester including the aerial ladder platform were in attendance for nearly 12 hours. No one was injured. The fire in the roof space is thought to have been caused by a fault in a gas water boiler. The three properties were severely damaged.
Unattended lighted candle sets fire to curtains
A woman was treated for smoke inhalation after curtains in a downstairs living room at her home in Malvern Close, Stourport caught fire in the early hours of Wednesday March 25th.Crews from Stourport and Kidderminster attended.
Three garden sheds severely damaged by fire caused by discarded cigarette
A discarded cigarette caused a fire, fanned by a strong wind, to severely damage three adjoining garden sheds at the rear of properties in Challenger Close, Malvern on Wednesday March 25th.attended. The bathroom window of one of the houses was damaged by the fire. Two crews from Malvern attended.
Compressed air foam used to extinguish gorse fire
Two crews from Whitchurch used compressed air foam to successfully extinguish a fire involving half an acre of gorse at Coppett Hill, Goodrich on the night of Wednesday March 25th. |
24th March 2009
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Fire Service receives funding to help co-ordinate the EUs largest emergency exercise.
Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service is set to receive 104,000 euros to co-ordinate the UKs response to the European Union’s biggest ever emergency exercise.
The exercise, which is due to take place in September, will involve responses from the UK, Poland, Holland, Sweden and Estonia. The event will simulate the tidal surge that devastated the UK and Holland in 1953 resulting in over 2,000 fatalities.
The UK came close to a repeat of that disaster in November 2007, when sea defences on parts of the East Coast came within centimetres of being overtopped. On that occasion Chief Fire Officer Paul Hayden, of Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service was asked to direct flood rescue operations in Norfolk and Suffolk, with the Worcester Flood Command Centre coordinating responding flood rescue teams from the fire and rescue service and voluntary agencies.
CFO Hayden, who led national flood rescue efforts in 2007, was recently appointed by government to represent all flood rescue services on the national programme board responsible for delivering a new flood rescue capability.
“This exercise will be an ideal opportunity to test new arrangements we are putting in place for major flood responses across the UK as a result of the 2007 ‘summer floods’,” said CFO Hayden. “The response will include our new government funded fire and rescue capabilities for command, control and public decontamination as well as flood rescue teams from the fire and rescue service and colleagues from the military and voluntary sector.
“It is always important for all those involved in flood rescue to continually train for all eventualities so we can be prepared for major incidents. By working together with other fire services and other agencies we can ensure our response arrangements for flood rescue are well planned and robust.”
Many of those involved in the exercise, which will take place in Holland, will meet for the first time this week at the Fire Service College, Moreton in Marsh, to begin planning the major flooding exercise. |
4th March 2009 |
Don’t Be Duped By Bogus Callers
Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service has issued a warning to local businesses not to be duped by bogus advertising scams. The warning follows a number of calls to the Service from concerned local businesses across the two counties who have been cold called by phone requesting payment for advertising to support the “local fire brigade” or “local fire station”.
Assistant Chief Fire Officer Jon Hall said: “It is not our policy to approach local businesses on this basis, and if you are approached please refer the matter to your local Trading Standards office. “One business owner contacted us saying they received a call from a very pushy sales person who claimed he was producing a booklet on the Fire Service’s behalf. When the business owner asked the caller to leave their contact details, the caller became quite aggressive. We are very concerned that people are using our name to gain financially and we are seeking further advice on this matter.” |
